Place-Based Impact Investing
Below, we've highlighted sessions related to Place-Based Impact Investing at SOCAP19, including many featuring MIE members. Programs are also still evolving: visit the SOCAP session guide for the latest details closer to the conference date.
| Session Guide |
Unlikely Partnerships Driven by Opportunity Zones
- , , Gallery 308
One of the latest community development policies, Opportunity Zones, has given rise to crucial conversations about cross-sectoral collaboration and innovation in the impact world. The Opportunity Zones legislation has increasingly drawn unlikely players into the field of impact investing and community development. This panel will feature some of these key players in sharing their experiences and discussing how collaboration and community engagement can unlock the full impact potential of Opportunity Zones across the country.
Jen Collins, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
Michael Everett, NuovoRE
David Gross, Our Opportunity
John Lettieri, Economic Innovation Group
Elise Liberto, Brown Advisory
Michael Everett, NuovoRE
David Gross, Our Opportunity
John Lettieri, Economic Innovation Group
Elise Liberto, Brown Advisory
Market or Mirage? Opportunity Zones Come into Focus
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM, Wed, Oct 23, 2019, Cowell Theater Mainstage
The market for Opportunity Zones is coming into focus as investors, funds, and local stakeholders work to maximize the value of the tax benefit. How can impact developers, enterprises, and entrepreneurs make the most of this opportunity? What can impact investors and philanthropies do to influence this market toward positive impact? What might be in store for new regulations? Panelists will answer these questions and more as they discuss early trends shaping the OZ market.
Otis Rolley III, The Rockefeller Foundation
Fran Seegull, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
Ja'Ron Smith, White House
Lisa Woods, KPMG
The market for Opportunity Zones is coming into focus as investors, funds, and local stakeholders work to maximize the value of the tax benefit. How can impact developers, enterprises, and entrepreneurs make the most of this opportunity? What can impact investors and philanthropies do to influence this market toward positive impact? What might be in store for new regulations? Panelists will answer these questions and more as they discuss early trends shaping the OZ market.
Otis Rolley III, The Rockefeller Foundation
Fran Seegull, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
Ja'Ron Smith, White House
Lisa Woods, KPMG
Beyond the $$$: How Investing in Inspiration and Social Capital Creates More Collaborative Impact Ecosystems
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM, Wed, Oct 23, 2019, Firehouse
It’s all about the money. Or is it? It’s time for entrepreneurs, investors, entrepreneur support organizations, and foundations to start building sustainable relationships that transcend securing financial capital. In order to create truly collaborative impact economies, the focus must shift towards an approach that also emphasizes the importance of inspiration capital and social capital. This session will explore how entrepreneurs can engage with local ecosystem builders to elevate their stories, ideate cutting-edge projects, and grow their impact-driven ventures.
It’s all about the money. Or is it? It’s time for entrepreneurs, investors, entrepreneur support organizations, and foundations to start building sustainable relationships that transcend securing financial capital. In order to create truly collaborative impact economies, the focus must shift towards an approach that also emphasizes the importance of inspiration capital and social capital. This session will explore how entrepreneurs can engage with local ecosystem builders to elevate their stories, ideate cutting-edge projects, and grow their impact-driven ventures.
Felicity Conrad, Paladin
Sarah Koch, Case Foundation
Katelyn Roberts, SEED SPOT
Natalie Self, MSW, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Dustin Shay, Village Capital
Sarah Koch, Case Foundation
Katelyn Roberts, SEED SPOT
Natalie Self, MSW, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Dustin Shay, Village Capital
Emerging Ecosystems: Are Mid-size Cities the Next Hub for Social Enterprise?
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM, Wed, Oct 23, 2019, SFAI Seminar 2
While major cities like San Francisco have the most robust entrepreneurial ecosystems, the cost of living and working in these cities is often prohibitive, making them inaccessible for many social entrepreneurs. In this session, panelists with experience in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Louisiana will speak to the challenges and benefits of growing a business in emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems, using both their experience and recent research from Halcyon’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem Report (SEER).
Allison Barmann, Bush Foundation
Justin Desrosiers, SustainVC
Sydney Gray, Mama Maji
Erica Plybeah Hemphill, MedHaul
Ryan Ross, Halcyon
While major cities like San Francisco have the most robust entrepreneurial ecosystems, the cost of living and working in these cities is often prohibitive, making them inaccessible for many social entrepreneurs. In this session, panelists with experience in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Louisiana will speak to the challenges and benefits of growing a business in emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems, using both their experience and recent research from Halcyon’s Social Enterprise Ecosystem Report (SEER).
Allison Barmann, Bush Foundation
Justin Desrosiers, SustainVC
Sydney Gray, Mama Maji
Erica Plybeah Hemphill, MedHaul
Ryan Ross, Halcyon
Scaling Impact and Resilience in Emerging Markets via Local Funds
- , , Southside Theater
The support of local fund managers for promising social entrepreneurs offers the ability to leverage millions of dollars of investment into hundreds of millions in revenue, employment for thousands, and scalable products and services that improve the lives of millions. In this session, panelists will discuss the challenges and best practices in scaling up the flow of capital in local economies and in selecting companies that will be resilient to the upcoming global recession.
Richard Ambrose, Pomona Impact
Ed Brakeman, Umsizi Fund
Shruti Chandrasekhar, IFC/World Bank Group
Will Poole, Capria Ventures
Nicole Rossell, MBA, Terra Global Capital
Megan Walsh Thompson, Ford Foundation
People As Policy: Investing in State & Local Opportunity Zone “Deal Jockeys”
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Thu, Oct 24, 2019, Firehouse
Up to $6 trillion in sidelined capital could move into distressed communities in the next decade. Rapid training, deployment, and support of Opportunity Zone “deal jockeys” is needed to help localities prepare for this investment. Deal jockeys are cross-sectoral specialists who understand finance, social capital, collaboration, and disruption. Now being tested in a few places, this model could emerge as a critical accelerant for future community impact, equitable development, and silo-breaking for years to come.
Dan Carol, Milken Institute
Alex Flachsbart, Opportunity Alabama
Ann Rogan, Office of Mayor Tubbs, City of Stockton
Otis Rolley III, The Rockefeller Foundation
Up to $6 trillion in sidelined capital could move into distressed communities in the next decade. Rapid training, deployment, and support of Opportunity Zone “deal jockeys” is needed to help localities prepare for this investment. Deal jockeys are cross-sectoral specialists who understand finance, social capital, collaboration, and disruption. Now being tested in a few places, this model could emerge as a critical accelerant for future community impact, equitable development, and silo-breaking for years to come.
Dan Carol, Milken Institute
Alex Flachsbart, Opportunity Alabama
Ann Rogan, Office of Mayor Tubbs, City of Stockton
Otis Rolley III, The Rockefeller Foundation
Inclusive Opportunity Zone Investments for Community Development
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM, Thu, Oct 24, 2019, Big Top Tent
With billions of dollars expected to flow into opportunity zones, the most important question is: Who will benefit? This workshop will provide a technical overview of the Opportunity Zone program, explore how it could intersect with inclusive impact investment, and describe initiatives. We will look at workforce housing, grass-roots social enterprise incubation, and community economic development through locally-owned qualified opportunity zone businesses.
Tina Castro, CFA, Avivar Capital
Jerome Garciano, Robinson & Cole LLP
Cort Gross, Jubilee Impact Fund
With billions of dollars expected to flow into opportunity zones, the most important question is: Who will benefit? This workshop will provide a technical overview of the Opportunity Zone program, explore how it could intersect with inclusive impact investment, and describe initiatives. We will look at workforce housing, grass-roots social enterprise incubation, and community economic development through locally-owned qualified opportunity zone businesses.
Tina Castro, CFA, Avivar Capital
Jerome Garciano, Robinson & Cole LLP
Cort Gross, Jubilee Impact Fund
Moving from Ecosystem Building to Large-Scale Social Change in Latin America
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM, Thu, Oct 24, 2019, Firehouse
Please join us for an interactive, roundtable discussion about how DFI’s, foundations, and NGOs are strengthening the social entrepreneurial ecosystem in Latin America. This roundtable will explore the entrepreneurs innovating at the forefront of social change and the investors working diligently to support them. Our discussion will drill down on what’s working and what’s missing from the toolkit, and how we can collaborate to form concrete solutions to drive large-scale social change.
David Bohigian, Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Beth Collins, Catholic Relief Services
Liz Diebold, Skoll Foundation
